Operation Christmas Child lifts off in Irvine

Dale Cole of Santa Ana, moves a pallet of shoe boxes filled with gifts as he volunteers Wednesday at the west coast processing center for the annual Operation Christmas Child in Irvine. The center will ship about 700,000 shoe boxes filled with small gifts for needy children around the world. MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Pack a shoe box

Pack your own shoe box or go online to samaritanspurse.org to "Build a Box" and personalize with a photo and letter.

What to pack: Basic toiletries; school supplies; a small toy; a stuffed animal. Do not include war toys, or anything liquid or that will melt, such as chocolate.

How to pack it: Place items in a regular-sized shoe box; wrapping is optional but wrap lid and box separately so the contents can be inspected for shipping.

More information: Go tosamaritanspurse.orgor call800-353-5949. The Irvine processing center can be reached at 714-432-7030.

Samaritan’s Purse

Total revenue: $310,859,899

Total expenses: $309,763,383

Program spending: $274,432,757

Management spending: $15,432,957

Fundraising spending: $19,897,669

Net assets: $178,235,572

Source: 2009 figures from charitynavigator.org

IRVINE – The West Coast processing warehouse for Operation Christmas Child buzzed with activity Wednesday as volunteers worked to ship an expected 700,000 shoe boxes filled with small gifts for needy children around the world.

Ben and Linda Betzer, a retired couple from Orange, were right in the thick of things early in the day, overseeing the unloading of more than 2,546 shoe boxes that filled a trailer ceiling to floor, end to end.

"Our goal was 2,400 and God blessed us with more," said Alma Townsend, children's ministry director and coordinator for the church's Operation Christmas Child effort.

Inside the warehouse at 1062 McGaw Ave., big cardboard boxes stacked on dozens of pallets held what Ben Betzer estimated was 300,000 shoe boxes donated so far. Volunteers standing at long rows of work tables will inspect each gift box before it is shipped. War toys, liquids or items that will melt, such as chocolate, are removed, but otherwise the shoe boxes stay intact, Ben Betzer said.

Operation Christmas Child is a project of the evangelical Christian relief organization Samaritan's Purse, which is headed by Franklin Graham, son of the Rev. Billy Graham.

"We could not do this project without the volunteers. I just want to say thank you to each and every one of you," Franklin Graham said during remarks to about 350 people – a good half of them volunteers – who gathered for a kickoff program that included Christmas songs from Saddleback Church Children's Choir.

The Betzers, both in their 60s, have been involved in Operation Christmas Child for the past 10 years. Since retiring four years ago from their jobs as bankers, they've worked on the project year round. Last year, they helped deliver shoe boxes to impoverished children in Ecuador, including about 300 kids who resided at a dump site where fires burned and vultures circled in the air.

"You couldn't imagine having your child live in that environment," Linda Betzer said. "Just to give them something as precious as a shoe box and a little bowl of food, it was just amazing ... The thing that struck us was how incredibly grateful the kids were for the smallest thing."

As the volunteer area coordinators for Orange County, the Betzers visit churches, schools and community organizations.

The Betzers' three children and six grandchildren also do their part. A daughter who works at Orange Lutheran High headed up an effort that resulted in more than 2,200 shoe boxes being packed in one day.

In addition to the local volunteers who will be working at the processing center through Dec. 12, others have come from northern California, Alaska, Arizona, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon and elsewhere.

Operation Christmas Child hopes to collect about 8.5 million of the gift boxes this year at centers here and in Charlotte, N.C., Atlanta, Denver and Minneapolis. Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has seen 86 million shoe boxes hand-delivered to children in more than 130 countries.

Ted Foreman, 21, of Minnesota spent several years of his childhood in an orphanage in Russia with his sisters before all three were adopted by a family in the United States that turned out to be Operation Christmas Child volunteers. While in the orphanage, he received a shoe box gift one year.

Foreman, whose Russian name is Vladimir, described to the crowd the hope engendered by the love that went into sending a shoe box filled with simple things – a towel, a notebook, a tube of SpongeBob SquarePants toothpaste – that he could call his own.

Related Links

Dale Cole of Santa Ana, moves a pallet of shoe boxes filled with gifts as he volunteers Wednesday at the west coast processing center for the annual Operation Christmas Child in Irvine. The center will ship about 700,000 shoe boxes filled with small gifts for needy children around the world. MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Julie Knauf, left, and Jackie Mourer, right, both of San Clemente, pack a box with shoe boxes full of toys as they volunteer Wednesday. MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Dana Alvarado, left, of Yorba Linda, hands a stack of shoe boxes to Shelly Bentley, right, of Anaheim Hills, as they unload a trailer filled with over 2500 shoe boxes filled with gifts from The Rock Community Church in Yorba Linda, Wednesday, at the west coast processing center for the annual Operation Christmas Child in Irvine. MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Jose Valentine of Tustin, wearing holiday antlers, listens as Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, spoke to volunteers gathered Wednesday at the west coast processing center for the annual Operation Christmas Child in Irvine. MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, spoke Wednesday at the west coast processing center for the annual Operation Christmas Child in Irvine. The center will ship about 700,000 shoe boxes filled with small gifts for needy children around the world. MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Shelly Bentley, of Anaheim Hills, helps unload a trailer filled with over 2500 shoe boxes filled with gifts from The Rock Community Church in Yorba Linda, Wednesday, at the west coast processing center for the annual Operation Christmas Child in Irvine. The center will ship about 700,000 shoe boxes filled with small gifts for needy children around the world. MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Manning the shoe box hospital, Ken Brown, left, of Eugene, Oregon, and Greg Reinhardt, right, of Victor, Montana, repair a box at the west coast processing center for the annual Operation Christmas Child in Irvine, Wednesday afternoon. MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A pallet of shoe boxes filled with gifts waits to be placed in larger boxes in the warehouse at the west coast processing center for the annual Operation Christmas Child in Irvine, Wednesday afternoon. MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A sign at the west coast processing center for the annual Operation Christmas Child in Irvine, which will ship about 700,000 shoe boxes filled with small gifts for needy children around the world. MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A box for a girl, 5 to 9 years old, is prepared Wednesday at the west coast processing center for the annual Operation Christmas Child in Irvine. MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Volunteers take a lunch break Wednesday at the west coast processing center for the annual Operation Christmas Child in Irvine. MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Lori Widly, of Anaheim, packs a box with shoe boxes full of gifts as she volunteers Wednesday at the west coast processing center for the annual Operation Christmas Child in Irvine. MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, spoke to volunteers gathered Wednesday at the west coast processing center for the annual Operation Christmas Child in Irvine. MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Jose Valentine of Tustin, wearing holiday antlers, listens to a question from a volunteer Wednesday at the west coast processing center for the annual Operation Christmas Child in Irvine. MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Stickers on a roll are ready to be placed on shoe boxes Wednesday at the west coast processing center for the annual Operation Christmas Child in Irvine. MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, spoke to volunteers gathered Wednesday at the west coast processing center for the annual Operation Christmas Child in Irvine. MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Ken Brown, of Eugene, Oregon, repairs a box at the west coast processing center for the annual Operation Christmas Child in Irvine. MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A box for a boy, 5 to 9 years old, is prepared Wednesday at the west coast processing center for the annual Operation Christmas Child in Irvine. The center will ship about 700,000 shoe boxes filled with small gifts for needy children around the world. MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A sign at the west coast processing center for the annual Operation Christmas Child in Irvine, which will ship about 700,000 shoe boxes filled with small gifts for needy children around the world. MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Volunteers work Wednesday at the west coast processing center for the annual Operation Christmas Child in Irvine, which will ship about 700,000 shoe boxes filled with small gifts for needy children around the world. MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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